The guy was silent, and to use a blatant cliche, too quiet. Ashton shot a quick glance at what the guy was doing, but not long enough to really see anything he’d looked at. Case files obviously had Kemp consumed. With what he was aware of, it was probably fine and dandy he hadn’t stared at anything grisly while driving.

In his unbiased opinion, the murders had been awful. As all murders are. In his biased opinion, they couldn’t have happened to many nicer guys. That was awful, and he knew it. The law protects all. But these had been some flagrantly anti-mutant individuals. At least, the vast majority of them had been... not all of them. He felt a little bad about lumping them all together like that, but what can you do?

One of the victims had died near a school full of mutants. If they’d been a bigot, that would have had to make their blood boil. A question mark hovered around that last one for him. Connected? Maybe it had been lumped with the rest by sheer coincidence. It could have been self-defense.

Kemp asked him what he knew of the mansion. So Ashton told him.

”Not much. I helped a homeless kid get settled in about a month ago, when his mutation first activated. So I know my way around the place A LITTLE. What I do you, you could probably Google.” He rolled his eyes and turned a corner.

”It was rebuilt in 2005 by some headmaster named Tricity. A sister school to some other school. She isn’t the headmaster now, though. It’s some guy named Rudyard Kipling or something. Kipperling. Yeah, that’s it. A place mutants can go to school and learn to use their powers. X men are associated. And—“

He pulled to a stop in front of the mansion gates. ”Thats pretty much all I know about that. Oh. They’ve got a jet. Want me to buzz us in?” He asked.

Once they were approved to enter, he pulled the car up the drive and parked it by the mansion. And there they were.

“Hey Liz, looks like the police have arrived,” came a voice through the intercom.

“Thanks Darren,” Liz said warmly as she opened the door to the mansion and stepped out. Darren was a sweetheart and she appreciated him warning her, although for once Liz hadn’t needed the security guy to inform her of something. Huginn had already spotted the vehicle when it arrived at the gates.

With Zorro, her German shepherd, at her side, Liz strolled out into the frigid air with her heavy fur-lined black cape flowing around her in the wind. Her timing was perfect, her opening of the door coinciding exactly with the two men leaving their car. She smiled as she let the door shut behind her and made her way partially between the men and the mansion before stopping.

Liz held up a gloved hand, her palm facing the sky and a black shape kawwed loudly before swooping down and snagging the foil-covered softboiled egg and hightailing it off to some tree somewhere. <<Thank you, Huginn,>> Liz said, the words projected directly into the bird’s mind along with a shard of pleasure. She knew the bird didn’t quite understand the words, but he knew they were associated with good feelings, food, and gifts, and to get those simple tasks needed accomplished.

As the bird made its way into the distance, Liz turned her attention to the newcomers. “Good afternoon, gentlemen!” she called out. “I’m Elizabeth Sundance and I’ll be your escort for this visit.” She was all smiles to them and even Zorro was on his best behavior, casually sitting upright beside her with nary a leash in sight. In fact, the folder in Liz’ hands was the only non-clothing object in sight.

While Kemp was thinking ‘oh great, goth Disney Princess...’ Ashton was thinking ‘oh great! Goth Disney Princess!’ Same words, different tone.

She was blonde, wearing a fur-lined cloak. Which was interesting. Not a ton of makeup, but then, who needs makeup? And she had a dog.

Ashton smiled professionally at the woman, and closed his car door. The car beeped as he double-tapped the lock on his fob. Woop woop!

His uniform was a crisp police blue. Well cared for. With a black winter jacket over it, and no hat. MRC cops didn’t always wear uniforms, but he hadn’t yet been promoted to a rank like detective, where he could wear a suit. Old him had owned suits in spades. He was still not sure if he placed the same amount of value in the suit. Looks weren’t everything. They could deceive. Plus, a suit made one look old.

He nodded at the introduction, standing side by side with the detective.

”Charmed Miss Sundance,” He chimed in. Then he grinned at the dog, and hunkered down on its level. ”Nice dog you have there. Looks well-trained. What’s their name?” He did not extend a hand towards the dog. Some people, and some dogs, get touchy about that sort of thing.

The two men were quickly identified to her and Liz maintained her smile despite Agent Kemp’s lack of the same. She placed her hand in his proffered one and shook it firmly, yet not harshly. She was already sizing him up. Formal, polite, guarded. He seemed to be living up to the stereotypes of federal agents. Not that Liz had ever met any personally.

The younger man, the police officer, was far more personable. “It’s a pleasure,” she said with genuine warmth as Officer Drake immediately got on her dog’s level. “Why thank you,” she beamed. “His name is Zorro and I’d hope he’s been well-trained - he’s been through a lot of professional police canine training.” She left out any reference to her own experiences training dogs for the police. That would just feel like bragging, even if it was a significant reason she was the one meeting the agent and officer and not some of the other faculty members.

Zorro, for his part, was still analyzing the men. He approved of the one lowering himself and there was such a delicious smell around him! His fixation on it was enough for even Liz to start smelling small amounts of cinnamon. But while the dog was entranced, Liz had stuff to do.

“Well gentlemen, why don’t we take this inside where it’s warmer?” she said as she turned to head back to the main doors, Zorro matching pace with her and abandoning his search efforts for the source of the cinnamon. She pulled open one of the doors and made her way into the entrance hall, where she whisked off her cape and gloves and placed them in a side closet. “You may leave your coats there, if you wish,” she gestured with a bare hand.

“Now I understand the two of you are here as part of an investigation. What exactly is it about and how may I be of service?”

Zorro.

”Cool name.” He said.

It was a cool dog. But he had work to do. He rose back to his full height, focusing on what had brought them together that day.

He followed the woman inside the building. Warmer was better.

She took off her cloak, but he chose to keep his. Mouthed a thank you, and moved on. He had a tendency to get cold. Especially talking the talk they were talking. Shivers. Etc. Speaking of—

Kemp went right to it, huh? His mind went to a crude joke about disappointed partners, but he quashed it. This was no time for fooling around!

He watched Sundance’s face as she took n the information. His own face tried to be neutral, but distaste worked its way in there somewhere. Distaste over the subject at hand.

When kemp looked at him, Ashton added ”Several of the victims were notoriously anti-mutant. Perhaps that set him, or her,” he pointedly did not glance kemp’s way at the comment. ”Off.”

Girls can be violent murderers too. It wouldn’t do to go into any investigation with a specific type of person in mind. Gotta keep them eyes open.


Personally, Ashton thought the assessment might have been a little off. Mainly the youthful aspect. He wasn’t going to tell Kemp how to run his show, but it just seemed that many of the victims had been all over town, not just around the mansion. Someone needed means. Transport. Young people had the bus, sure, and they could look into that. But he just got this feeling... this feeling that didn’t want it to be some kid. Probably bias on his part. Mansion people had been good to him so far. He kept it to himself.

Ashton felt the start or a sneeze coming on. He quickly rubbed at his nose to stifle it before it could actually happen.

”Don’t, uh. Spread that around. Might not be something the general public needs to know. For obvious reasons.” He added, embarrassed. Had he messed up? Talk of serial killers tended to go over... poorly. Especially when kemp asked if the person he’d profiled sounded like a student. Oh gee.

He mouthed sorry to kemp. Then, he suggested that maybe they ought to take this some place more private, like Sundance’s office, if they wanted to talk about the case in detail. A hint of the Irish flavored his words, even though he’d been trying to kill that. Ah Irish cop who sounded Irish? How mundane could you be?

Elizabeth’s smile froze and the woman blinked a few times. Well she had asked. She certainly hadn’t expected such a detailed psycho-analysis and spilling of the beans. Nor had she expected him to immediately start in on the questions, at least not such direct or somewhat accusatory ones. Liz couldn’t say she was very fond of the man, at the moment.

She cocked her head slightly, Zorro making the same movement simultaneously. She took a moment to chew her words carefully but then the officer cut in.

“Right,” she said slowly, her mind racing to see all the angles here. She allowed the smile to begin fading. She highly doubted she’d be needing one anytime soon and the quicker she began showing other reactions, the less likely the men would be to suspect any duplicity. Not that she had any planned, but she at least wanted to keep her options open.

In matters this serious, she wanted as many options as she could.

The psychic turned her full attention to Officer Drake and nodded. “An excellent suggestion. If you’ll follow me.” Her tone was all business now as she turned and began leading them to her office. With a bit of a mental nudge, Zorro trailed along behind them, his eyes and ears focused on their movements. Liz had noticed long ago that people sometimes acted differently when they thought they weren’t being watched and few ever seemed to bother to suspect that animals (or their psychic owners) might be paying attention.

Liz didn’t say much during the short trip and when they got to her tiny office, she offered them the two guest chairs while she went around to sit at her desk. Zorro padded his way over to the back corner and laid down on his doggy bed.

Liz laid her folder on her desk. “Now then,” she said, glancing between the officer and the agent. “I must confess to some curiosity. You appear to have a...very detailed psych eval, yet there seems to be a discrepancy with some of your facts - pardon me, your beliefs. Now I may be missing something, but which part of that assessment was just cause to automatically suspect a student from this school was involved?” Her gaze settled firmly on Agent Kemp.

The woman really didn’t seem to like what Kemp was alluding to. And Ashton could get that, could understand it. It was very distasteful.

Very, very.

She agreed with him, that getting them out of the way was a good idea. Off the beaten path, where any student could overhear everything.

As he walked, he glanced around. He was fairly familiar with the halls now, and so he wasn’t looking around to take in and memorize directions. Perhaps, a bit of familiarity would come through unconsciously in his body language. It seemed more like he might have been expecting to see someone at any moment. Someone who he was familiar with? His face was neutral, though. Hands in his pockets. Classic body language for being closed off.

He went into the small office, and took a chair. The one furthest from the door. First in, last out. Kemp could have the closer door chair.

He crossed one leg over the other, and rested his clasped hands on his knee. Listened to the woman’s response, and... Miss Sundance got a little personal.

Totally fair, he thought. Kemp seemed low on chill, to use a more modern bit of slang.

Ashton felt for her, felt a little chastened. Kind of was annoyed with Kemp for the awkwardness. He was still a rookie officer, still wasn’t fully used to asking the awkward questions. Though he knew those were things that came with the job.

He sat back and watched Kemp for his reaction. Guy had an angry woman on his case. Step carefully, and good luck.

Kemp tried a pretty good attempt out of the gate, tackling her worries that they were targeting students. Talked of how the killer had an area where he operated. One that included the school. He was trying to be reasonable.

Ashton clasped his knee a little tighter.

He visibly winced when kemp mentioned one student by name. Had he... had he heard the name around the station? Maybe.

Hesitantly, he cut in. ”Wasn’t that... wasn’t that the wolf kid? I think I heard something, maybe. But Kemp. Are you sure about this? I think there were extenuating circumstances involved with all of that drama. And this? It’s a pretty big jump. Not to undercut you or anything, but— I mean, we could speak to him. He’s really young though... and I’m not sure a kid that young could be a serial killer.”

He looked to Sundance, frowning. ”I hate to call a kid in to talk about stuff like this. But it would be irresponsible to leave it alone without at least looking into it. What do you think? Five minutes? Kemp, do we have any times and dates we could check to figure out if there’s an alibi? Though for all we know, this could be several people...”

Maybe he was not the best person for this investigation. He was more a hands on guy, and this? Felt a little hands off.

Elizabeth’s alarm lowered just a bit as Agent Kemp explained his rationale. That made sense. Logical even. She realized he had mentioned before several attacks occuring in the area, but she had been too focused on a potential threat toward one of the students to consider it. She leveled a short nod at the agent. “That makes for easier hearing,” she said less cooly.

She maintained his eye contact, meeting his frown with a studious lack of expression. Except for her eyes. Liz wasn’t watching the man like a teacher staring at a federal agent. It was the calculating stare of a falcon when deciding if something was food or foe. She was focusing hard on him and herself, using her years of experience to wash her face of as many emotions and reactions as she could while also searching for as many clues from the two men in front of her. Especially because the more Kemp spoke, the less she liked it.

The possessor turned her raptor gaze to Officer Drake as he added more fuel to the fire. They wanted Rowan for questioning. It appeared that they were no longer continuing any charade. The psych eval had been so meticulous because they’d probably written it based on Rowan directly. Even that first question, as to whether it matched any of her students, had been a feint.

They were hunters.

Liz didn’t have many options though. She nodded to Officer Drake. He was by far the more agreeable person. At the very least it didn’t seem like he’d already picked out a cell for her student. “Very well. I’ll have an announcement made to have Rowan come here,” she said. “They should still be in class at the moment, so they’ll at least be on campus.” And Liz prayed she was throwing the officer and agent a bone, wrapping up a loose end, and not throwing Rowan to the wolves.

Although at least she knew how wolves fought.

Liz picked up the handset of her desk’s phone and called the main office to request Rowan to come to her office immediately. A minute later, a voice over the PA was summoning the student.

“They should be here soon,” Liz informed the men, as if they couldn’t hear the PA as well.

And then Liz picked up a legal pad from her desk, clicked a ballpoint pen, and began writing. It was best to get her observations of these men down while they were still fresh. She didn’t offer small talk or tea or other niceties - frankly, she didn’t feel like it. Meanwhile, Zorro kept watch on the men and through him, Liz did as well.

Class paused as the intercom clicked to life, requesting Rowan go to Ms. Sundances' office. He jumped slightly, head swiveled towards the speaker on the wall. All eyes in the room were suddenly on the young shifter sitting towards the back of the classroom. He was...being called to her office? He inhaled nervously, wondering what he had done. His teacher dismissed him, and the young shifter began to quickly gather his things. Rowan stood up, chair squeaking across the floor.

The young shifter walked quickly, despite trying to look calm. People could try to whisper, try to hide their intentions, but in a school full of mutants, many of whom had sensitive ears or mind reading capabilities, rumors spread quickly. Already the school was abuzz with police officer spottings. It didn't take Rowan long to find Ms. Sundance's office. He timidly knocked, and pushed the door open.

The young boy standing in the doorway looked like...well a young boy. He looked a little rough around the edges; his hair was messy and he was sporting a few bruises and cuts, but asides from that he looked like a young teenager. The oddest thing about him was his clothes, which appeared three sizes too big.

The first person Rowan saw was Liz. That wasn't much of a surprise, as this was her office.

"Hi Ms. Sundance..." Rowan stopped speaking, as the second person Rowan saw was Zorro. He had heard that Ms. Sundance had a dog, but getting to actually see him was like meeting a celebrity. And as hard as Rowan tried to be grumpy and standoffish, he couldn't help but look wide-eyed at the dog. Seemingly without thinking he asked; "Can I pet your dog Ms. Sundance?"

After a moment of starring excitedly at the dog Rowan realized there were other people with Liz. Two men. One well dressed, and the other wearing a police uniform. Rowan's blood ran cold. Instinctively he took a step back, slightly closing the door so he was only peeking out. He nervously stuttered, looking up at Liz.

"Is...is this about that Jack kid? I p-promise I only threatened him, I wasn't a-actually gonna knock his teeth out! And he said s-something gross about a girl in class..."

There was a twitch in Rowan's legs, as if he might bolt at any time. Ms. Sundance's office isn't too far from an exit, he might be able to make it outside before she could call someone. But without his coat braving the cold felt foolish.



Ms. Sundance welcomed Rowan into the office. Taking a quick, deep, breath, Rowan accepted he had been caught. He took a few steps into the office, closing the door behind him. He stood awkwardly by the door, not exactly sure where he should stand. He kept his eyes on the floor, but occasionally stole glances at Ms Sundance. 

She agreed, went on the PA and called him up. Which left Ashton doing... not a lot. So he waited, awkwardly. Didn’t try and make small talk. He had a feeling right now, small talk was furthest from everyone’s minds. Which sucked. He vastly preferred positive situations. This whole thing of suspecting a kid? Yuck!

He hoped Kemp would scratch his itch, find nothing further to interest him, and that they could then move on and find the killer. Whoever they were. It was probably some gorilla mutant or something. A real King Kong type. Yup.

Kid came in. Young kid. Seemed nice. Didn’t seem like a serial killer at all. Little messy, big clothes. Ashton glanced at Kemp. It kind of showed in his face. Like, ‘what, this kid? A murderer? You kidding?’ The kiddo even wanted to pet the dog! Which put him and Ashton in the same boat!!

It was a good dog, dammit.


They’re all good dogs.

When the kid saw them, his whole demeanor changed. Bundle of nerves, this one. Asking about a jack? Who the hell was jack?

Ashton didn’t know Jack.

Hopefully, kemp would be peaceable and calming. Do something to help Rowan relax. And maybe he had? But Ashton didn’t know. And he sure didn’t want to escalate anything. So he stayed seated while Kemp rose. Though he did nod at the kid, and try for an awkward smile.

It sounded to him like jack was a student at the mansion. One who had crossed a line, and might’ve gotten threatened with a knuckle sandwich. But, then, Ashton didn’t want to cut in and say something like that (which would totally undermine Kemp’s question). Even if for a moment, he considered doing so in a good cop / bad cop sort of situation.

He didn’t say anything. Not to Rowan. Quietly, he said to Sundance. ”I’m sorry about this... I’ll try and help this go smoothly as it can, so we can get out of your hair and he can go back to class. I really don’t think...”

He said it all as quietly as he could. So that hopefully Kemp didn’t hear. But whatever. So what if he did?

Zorro heard Rowan’s approach quite some time before he showed up at the office door, which meant Liz was aware of the boy early on as well. She finished writing an observation and as the door opened, she treated the student with genuine delight. “Hi Rowan! Come on in! Yes, Zorro would love to be petted.” She was all smiles and even Zorro seemed cheerier, his tail starting to wag as he caught sight of the boy.

“Come on over and sit down,” she said as she moved to vacate her chair, taking her folder and notes with her. She leaned against the wall, still on her side of the desk, but able to see anyone seated on either side of the desk clearly. There were only the three chairs in the office so Liz figured she’d give up her chair. After all, it was the seat of power in the room and the desk would be a barrier between him and the men. She wasn’t going to make the lad just stand and get interrogated!

Her chair was also way comfier and every little bit helped, especially when the child had already gone through the things Rowan had. It was also a display of territorialism and dominance. This was her student, not a random street thug, and her standing position was a counter to Agent Kemp’s standing. Even if Rowan just hung around Zorro and neglected the chair, there was something to be said about being friendly with a police-trained German shepherd.

“Jack is a student here at the mansion and I’m sure it’s unrelated to the matter at hand,” Liz said swiftly. In her head she was slapping herself. Of all the ways Rowan could make a first impression! She leveled a “we’ll definitely be talking about that later” look at Rowan, before softening.

“You’re not in trouble,” she said, catching Officer Drake’s eye and nodding. Zorro had picked up the words far better than she, and after accounting for the strange stereo effect of hearing the words from two sets of ears, she got the message. He was either an ally, an enemy of the enemy, or running some kind of angle himself. “These men are here for some routine questioning in regards to a recent series of events, some of which have occurred near the Mansion. This isn’t an interrogation,” she looked at Kemp as she said that, “so we’re just going to answer their questions so they’ll be able to pursue actual leads.”

Rowan had looked pretty nervous as he stepped into the office, luckily Ms. Sundance's sunny greetings calmed him down a bit. Not only that but he got to pet Zorro! Yes! He was also thankful when Ms. Sundance gave him a place to sit, although he would have rather been near the door for a fast get away.

He made his way over to Liz's chair quickly, not looking at the cops in the room. And yeah, sitting in the teachers big comfy chair was cool, but what was way cooler was getting to pet a dog. And Zorro was wagging his tail, much to Rowan's relief. For a moment he had been worried that maybe the dog could sense that Rowan was something...animalistic too. And maybe Liz's mutation was making Zorro friendly, but Rowan was gonna hope it was just that the dog saw him as a normal kid.

Rowan gave Zorro a loving scratch behind the ears, the slightest twitch of a smile on his face.

As Rowan sat down he eyed the standing man in the suit. An agent? Like a spy? Or someone who worked for the government? That was...odd. Rowan nervously picked at his hands.

"Uh...Jack...I sit next to him in English..."

Luckily Ms. Sundance explained that situation a lot better, and with less of a nervous edge, but the look she gave him afterwords deflated him a bit. Okay...maybe confessing to a crime in front of two cops was a bad idea, Rowan couldn't help being a nervous babbler.

Rowan was quickly growing suspicious. If this had actually been about him threatening a student why was an agent here? Why wasn't Ms. Taylor talking to him about his actions? Or one of the security guards from the school? Sending police officers for a minor threat seemed...extreme.

He was starting to get anxious again, as it became clear he was being questioned on more than just his threats. But instead of growing more timid Rowan began to puff up, he stopped hunching in on himself, sitting up straighter. His brow furrowed. He wasn't about to let some cops intimidate him! He crossed his arms over his chest.

Rowan looked at the younger cop, who hadn't yet stood up. He noted the cops smile. The young shifter then looked back at Kemp. Well clearly one of these guys was in charge. Rowan huffed, brushing some hair out of his eyes.

"Why am I really here?"

As Rowan spoke those observing him would notice something strange. Most of his teeth were sharp and shaped like dogs teeth. A clear sign of his mutation.

>> “These men are here for some routine questioning in regards to a recent series of events, some of which have occurred near the Mansion. This isn’t an interrogation,”

As Liz explained the situation Rowan relaxed a bit, but was still trying to act tough. Ms Sundance's use of 'we' helping to, at least momentarily, keep Rowan calm. The young shifter looked up at Kemp, only for a moment, still curious as to how these 'events' were related to him.

Rowan gave Zorro another pat, running his fingers through the fur on his back. He hadn't realized how much he missed getting to be near animals. Maybe Ms. Sundance would let him take Zorro for a walk sometime!

His attention was back on Kemp as the man sat down and pulled out his briefcase with a sigh.

Well...teaching a kid a lesson because he didn't clean his backpack and teaching a kid a lesson because he was harassing a girl were two, very different, scenarios for Rowan. But still, he had to give Kemp some credit for at least trying to relate to him.

Yeah...there it was. FBI. He really had seen it coming, with the whole 'agent' thing and the suit. But hearing the man actually say it was...frightening. But Ms. Sundance said they were just there as part of a routine thing...right?

Rowan furrowed his brow. And now he was asking about school? Why was he making small talk? Didn't he have like...a job to do?

"Schools...fine. The teachers and students are...fine..." Rowan grumbled, his answers short, not wanting to discuss his school life with a stranger. And he still didn't know what his relationship with the school had to do with whatever case he was working. 

What had he been up to lately? Well the semester had really only just started. Rowan shrugged.

"I dunno...class? Studying? Oh!" He turned to Liz. "I got an 80 on that math test I had been worried about." Taking his exams in Ms. Taylor-Cervantes' room had been helping a lot with his test taking anxiety triggering his mutation.

Rowan turned back to Kemp, his body language again closed off and aggressive now that he wasn't speaking to the teacher he trusted.

"I'd like to get back to class. You say you're here for a reason. Could you just...say it?" Rowan grumbled, his patience already worn thin by his general dislike for authority figures.

As Kemp pulled out the stack of photos Rowan sat up, curious. Something about the way Kemp put down each photo was strangely...sterile? Each picture was placed an equal distance apart, no bent corners or creases. Maybe Rowan was just overthinking things, trying to distract himself.

Rowan looked at each photo, eyes slowly moving from picture to picture. Some of them looked familiar, maybe. They just looked like normal people, like people you would see walking around a grocery store.

But one of them, the second to last photo, caught Rowan's attention.

The photo featured a woman with dark skin and brown eyes. She had black, tightly curled, hair in a bun on her head. There was something very friendly about her, maybe the wide smile or the brightness in her eyes.

Rowan...recognized her. He lingered on that photo a few seconds longer than the others, eyes wide. He tried to move onto the last photo, but he knew that Kemp had caught his expression change. He considered saying nothing, but knew if he tried to keep tight lipped that Kemp would force him to talk.

He sat back in the chair, not looking at Kemp.

"That lady at the end...I've seen her somewhere, but I don't know where." He fibbed, crossing his arms over his chest. He felt a flutter of anxiety. Who were all these people? And what did they have to do with him?

Rowan suddenly stole a glance at Ashton, silently pleading that the younger officer just explain what was going on.

People were having all sorts of reactions. Sundance was protective, and wary. Kemp was trying to get Rowan to open up, while deep down harboring and nurturing minor and major annoyances. Trying to allow Rowan to relax. And Rowan? The boy seemed grumpy and put off. As for Ashton.

Ashton was watching everyone and definitely not thinking about how cool it would be if Zorro played basketball.

He noted that Rowan seemed like a normal kid. Happy about a test he had been worried he would fail, open with his teacher, but not with the man who was questioning him. Grouchy. Typical teenage boy. Someone else might have thought it strange, but for Ashton who from his perspective had been one only six or seven years ago, and had dealt with people who still acted like grouchy teens well into military academy, it seemed average.

Ashton grimaced as Kemp dug out some pictures and went full Chad Kroeger on the kiddo. He had a hunch what them pictures were of.

His hunch, of course, was wrong. Judging from how the child did not feel back in shock from grisly murder pics. Rowan did act as if he knew someone, though. A flicker of recognition.

Ashton’s heart went ba bump y bump. Would the boy speak, or would he keep silent. Speaking was smart. Was he? Because you don’t lie to police.

He had seen her before. And... and he was looking to him, as if begging to know why.

Ashton looked to Kemp. It was a significant, searching look. Then, he rose. Walked over to the desk, and turned the photograph towards him as he leaned over the desk.

It was a dark-haired woman. The latest victim, who had been murdered less than a week ago. A woman with seemingly no ties to the anti-mutant movement. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have ties. He’d read her file.

”Oh.” He said. He turned to glance back over his shoulder. At Kemp. What could he say that wouldn’t give everything away?

”Hey Sundance?” Ashton said. He looked to the blonde. ”You ever go to the Wollman rink in Central Park?”

He waited for a reply, then continued.

”I’ve been, once or twice. Dunno if I ever saw her there, but then, I probably would’ve been focused on my date.” He ran a hand through his hair as he stepped away from the desk. ”Could have easily missed her. But according to her file, she was a fixture. During the winter months in Central Park. She’d go every Saturday, like clockwork. Go and practice her skating routine with her father. For the last two years. She was trying to make something of herself. Maybe go pro. Her name was Monica.” Ashton sighed. The ‘was’ part killed him. She sounded like she would have been fun to meet. A genuinely nice person. Ambitious.

He looked to Rowan. ”What about you, Rowan? Have you ever gone to Wolfman park.” He caught himself, and awkwardly coughed into his fist. ”I mean Wollman.”

If Kemp wanted to dig any further than simple questions like this, he was going to speak with Sundance about getting the kids Parental guardian into the room. The second things got out of hand. He’d stop things and get them. Right now, it was just simple questions about “how’s school, ever been to a skating rink?”

They had yet to dig into the real meat of the situation. Rowan really wanted some guidance though, about what he was dealing with. Ashton hoped the ‘was’ clue would key Rowan into that. It had been subtle. Or at least, he had tried to make it so.